1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a method for information processing for data migration used when software for managing network devices is upgraded to a new version.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technology for migrating data used in an old version of software installed and operated in an information processing apparatus into a new version when the software is upgraded has been developed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-36181 describes a technology applied when data used in an old version is migrated into a new version in an environment in which the old version and the new version coexist. More specifically, data in the old version is migrated into a new version when the data needs to be used in the new version.
On the other hand, for a print processing system in which a printing apparatus is connected to an information processing apparatus, such as a personal computer (PC), a technology for upgrading a version of software installed in the information processing apparatus has been developed. In order to expand the function of an image processing apparatus, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-072526 describes a technology for adding an extension to the image processing apparatus (or the above-described software) in the form of a “plug-in”. In addition, a technology is described in which a setup program determines whether the function of the installed plug-in can be effective in a printing apparatus and, only if the function of the installed plug-in is effective, the plug-in is activated.
The system described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-36181 has an advantage in that a downtime of a database is not necessary, since the data is migrated when a user accesses data of the old version through a new version of the software.
However, for software that needs to migrate a large amount of data, the response time of processing other than data migration increases during execution of data migration. Thus, the usability of the software for the user may be decreased. In addition, since a long time is required until the data migration is completed, the old version of the software needs to be running for a long time. For example, when the progress of migration processing is monitored through a web page without interrupting the migration processing, the display of the web page may time out during the long migration processing, and therefore, the system may not inform the user of the progress or completion of the data migration processing.
In addition, in the system described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-072526, update of the software and update of the plug-in are concurrently performed. The migration processing when update of the software and update of the plug-in are performed at different points of time is not described. Accordingly, if the software and the plug-in are upgraded to new versions in the following sequences (0) to (3), the migrated data may have some defect:
(0) The old versions of the software and plug-in are operated.
(1) The old version of the software is upgraded to a new version. However, the plug-in is not upgraded.
(2) The software and plug-in are operated for a certain period of time. Thus, the management information and the operating environment are changed due to the operation.
(3) The old version of the plug-in is upgraded to a new version.
In addition, after the data is migrated, reconstruction of the data using the new version of the plug-in may be needed.